


In Abeyance

by reeby10



Series: Kith and Kin [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chef!Benny, Dean-Centric, Dysfunctional Family, Friendship, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, M/M, Misunderstandings, Oblivious Dean, One-Sided Attraction, POV Dean Winchester, Pre-Slash, Student!Dean
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-08 20:37:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7772401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/pseuds/reeby10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean takes the move to a new town as a chance to start something new. That means beginning college, becoming best friends with a guy from the largest and weirdest family ever imagined, and getting a crush on the local diner cook. Unfortunately, misunderstandings and one-sided feelings threaten to ruin everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [WIP Big Bang 2016](http://wipbigbang.livejournal.com/). It will update once or twice a day through the 19th. More tags will be added as needed.
> 
>  **ETA:** Now with some really fabulous art by Shuufleur! Check it out [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7811629) or embedded in the fic.
> 
> This is the beginning of a series, cowritten with Biffelderberry, that I dreamed up back in January 2015 and which has grown to massive proportions since then. Basically we made it our goal to fit every SPN character we could think of into a modern AU about family dysfunction. It will contain stories from the POV of multiple characters, with this as the start of the main story line.
> 
> If you are here primarily for Destiel, this is probably not the fic for you. This fic contains one-sided Destiel feels with Denny eventually as endgame and Sabriel is a side ship. Both the Destiel and Sabriel will be focused on more in following fics.

Dean heaved a sigh as he pulled into the driveway of their new house. He wasn’t sure exactly how to feel about his life changing so rapidly in the past few weeks, and he was sure things would continue to be rocky for awhile. Moving states to live with a younger brother you didn’t know you had kind of did that.

“Stop dawdling and get those boxes!” John yelled from the open front door.

“Yeah, dad,” Dean called back, circling around to the trunk. He popped it open and pulled the first box out, heading up to the house.

It was weird for him to be seeing the house for the first time on the day they were moving in, but his dad hadn’t really cared for his or Sam’s opinion on the matter. It wasn’t like they were having their comfortable lives in Kansas totally upended all of a sudden or anything. Or at least John hadn’t seen it that way. He had a habit of not noticing the effects his actions had on anyone else around him.

Really, Dean felt worse for Sam than he did for himself. For Dean, the move meant a new start that he was taking advantage of. In a few weeks he’d start as a freshman in college, something he never would have thought he’d be doing before. Sioux Falls was a big change, but it was also a big opportunity, so in the end it really evened out.

For Sam, though, starting anew wasn’t going to be so easy or so simple. He’d be starting his senior year of high school in a few weeks, and anyone who’d ever moved during high school knew that was pretty much the worst time to do it. All the friends and connections had to be reforged in an unfamiliar place during the most stressful year of schooling. Not exactly a fun thing for anyone, even someone as smart and friendly as Sam.

When he finally made it inside, the living room was a whirlwind of action. Frankly, it was a mess. There were boxes everywhere, most closed, but some were opened with their contents spilling out onto the floor and the furniture. Apparently no one had bothered to make sure the boxes were in the correct room, just stacked them in the closest available space on their way in.

“Hey, Sammy,” Dean called, looking around. His brother’s head popped out from where Dean assumed the kitchen was, grimacing a little at the nickname, and Dean gestured at the mess. “Can you start moving stuff into the right rooms? I’m gonna get the rest of the boxes from the car.”

“Sure,” Sam replied. “Did you pick a room yet?”

Dean shook his head. “You and Adam pick your rooms. Just put me wherever is left.”

“If you say so…” Sam said, already drifting toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms. “But don’t blame me when you get the room from hell or whatever.”

Privately, Dean wasn’t totally sure that wouldn’t describe any of the rooms since they hadn’t gotten to look at the house before moving in. John tended toward the painfully practical with no thought for anything else. Dean was actually pretty surprised John had managed to get a house that came with furniture; he’d thought they’d all end up sleeping on the floor until they could go shopping.

He brought the boxes in as quickly as he could, interested in seeing the rest of the house. John continued to gripe at him to work harder every time they crossed paths with the boxes, John from his beat up pickup truck and Dean from the Impala. Between the two vehicles, there were quite a lot of boxes, though beforehand Dean wouldn’t have said they had a lot of stuff. John tended to look down on collecting more than the bare necessities and living in motels for so many years made having much pretty difficult as well.

***

They ate dinner at the dining room table, and Dean thought it might have been the first time he’d done that at his own home. Motel rooms didn’t tend to having dining rooms, and at the last house John hadn’t thought it was necessary. It was kind of nice to feel like the house was a real home and that they were a real family. If he could only ignore the fighting.

Dinner was Chinese food from a nearby takeout joint and John had severely underestimated how much the four of them could eat. It might have been enough when it was just the three of them, but Adam was a growing teenager and Sam and Dean weren’t exactly lightweights either. It didn’t take long before they were fighting over who got to eat the last egg roll or why one of the cartons only had onions picked from all the other cartons.

John was drinking a beer with dinner, at least his third one since they’d finished moving the boxes in. He was starting to get grumpy, snapping at Sam for dropping rice on the table or at Adam for picking at the vegetables in the lo mein instead of eating them. That only made Adam, who hadn’t been exactly happy in the first place, even more sullen.

Honestly, Dean couldn’t blame Adam for being in a bad mood. He was having a hard enough time adjusting to having another brother and moving states, he couldn’t imagine what Adam was feeling with his mom dying, finding out he had two brothers, and moving houses. Dean figured he could give the kid some leeway, knowing all that.

“And Dean, you’ll pick your brothers up from school,” John said, taking another gulp of beer before burping and leaning back in his chair.

Dean’s head jerked up, eyes going wide. “What?” he asked, feeling suddenly on the spot. “No, I can’t, I have class then.”

“You think class is more important than your younger brothers?” John asked, eyes narrowing. “I thought I taught you better than that. Your brothers are your responsibility, you damn better pick them up from school if I say so.”

“Right,” Dean replied, gritting his teeth. He wanted so badly to argue, but he knew it wouldn’t do any good. Besides, he did want to do right by his brothers, and if that meant he had to drop down to part time at school so he could pick them up every day, then so be it.

“You can’t make Dean drop his class!” Sam said, glaring at John. Dean tried to motion for Sam to shut his mouth, but was of course ignored. “Why can’t you pick us up? Or we could take the bus. Dean’s starting college, he should be able to take the classes he signed up for even if you wanna be an ass about it.”

“Watch your mouth,” John snapped, hands slamming on the table hard enough for one of the empty cartons to tip over. Adam flinched at that, eyes darting around like he wasn’t really sure what was going on. He’d never seen the way Sam and John fought, so it was probably a little overwhelming. “He’ll drop his class so he can pick you up and that’s the end of it. I have work and I can’t be carting your ungrateful ass around.”

Sam snorted. “Work, right,” he said, the sarcasm almost palpable. “Is that what you call laying around and getting drunk?”

“I’m warning you…” John said, starting to rise from his seat.

Dean could see that the argument, fairly normal for back home, was becoming too much for Adam. He’d never been around this kind of thing with just his mom, and he obviously didn’t know how to deal with it. Which meant it was Dean’s responsibility to get Adam out of there before things really blew up. Thankfully, John was too drunk and angry to focus on anything but Sam, and he didn’t notice when Dean quietly stood up and moved over to Adam’s side of the table.

“Hey,” Dean said softly, keeping an eye on the still ongoing argument. “How about we go watch tv or play a game or something?”

For a moment, Dean thought Adam might argue just for the sake of arguing. He wasn’t used to having older brothers, and he’d made no secret of the fact that he didn’t like how his life had changed with their inclusion. But by some miracle he just nodded, standing just as quietly, and followed Dean into the living room.

Dean turned the tv on, glad John had at least got the cable hooked up before they moved in. The argument in the dining room started to rise in pitch, so he upped the volume just enough to drown it out. It wouldn’t make either of them forget that it was going on, but at least they wouldn’t be able to hear it. That was better than nothing.

“So,” Dean asked, settling onto the couch at the opposite end from Adam, who had curled in on himself, eyes glued to the tv, “what do you want to watch?”

***

It took several days for most of the boxes to get moved out of the living room and for the house actually start to look like a house instead of just a whirlwind. Of course being the living space of two teenage boys, a college guy, and a father who couldn’t care less, nothing could really be called clean or even really put away. Boxes sat in rooms half opened because they only bothered to get into them when they needed something specific.

Even more than moving into a new house, it was learning to live with another younger brother that was the major issue. Adam was not happy with their new living situation, something he made sure to make abundantly and loudly clear at every opportunity. Dean tried to be patient with him because he knew how difficult it was to lose a mom and have your world turned upside down, but it was hard.

Eventually Dean decided he just needed to leave the house for awhile. The excuse he used on John, who hadn’t done much other than sit on the couch and watch tv since they moved in, was that he was going to go look for a job. It wasn’t even a lie, he knew they couldn’t rely on a steady stream of income from John, so he needed to get a good job to pay for rent and food and all the things growing teenage boys needed, whatever those were. It wasn’t like he knew.

He headed out into town with only a vague idea of where he was going. He knew somewhere in town was a mechanic shop owned by an old family friend. Sort of. Dean had heard stories of the guy from his mother because he’d been friends with her father, but he’d gotten out of the bounty hunting game before Mary and John met, so Dean hadn’t ever actually met the guy. He could only hope the family connections, tenuous as they were, would be enough for the guy to consider giving him a job.

Thankfully, the shop turned out to not be too hard to find since the line between Ennis and Sioux Falls was pretty vague. It didn’t look too busy either, which Dean was happy about. He wasn’t totally sure what the reaction would be when he showed up and asked for a job, so not having an audience would be a good thing.

As soon as Dean drove up, before he’d even put the car in park, the door to the shop banged open and an old man walked out, shotgun in hand. Well shit.

“Get your ass off my property, John Winchester!” the man shouted, and Dean was pretty sure if he was closer he’d be able to see flames in the guy’s eyes. “I told you to stay the hell away from me!”

Dean stared for a moment, wondering what the hell that was about, before deciding not to just drive away. That was probably the better option with the looming threat of a shotgun blast the chest, but he wasn’t actually John, so he hoped the guy wouldn’t shoot him. If he was a praying man he would have sent up a prayer before turning off the car and stepping out.

“Uh, hey,” Dean said, smiling what he hoped was a charming smile. From the frown on the guy’s face it wasn’t working. “You Bobby Singer?”

“I am,” the guy, Bobby, said grudgingly. “You’re not John Winchester, but I’ll be damned if that isn’t his prissy ass car.”

“Yeah, I’m his son,” Dean said, taking a careful step forward. The shotgun didn’t waver from where it was pointing straight at his chest. “The Impala’s mine now and it’s not prissy, you sonuva bitch.”

For a second, Dean thought he’d gone too far and blew any chance he had of getting a job, but to his surprise Bobby lowered the shotgun and burst into laughter. All Dean could do was stand there, surprised he wasn’t going to be picking pellets out of his chest in the ER.

After that, things went much smoother. Apparently Bobby absolutely despised John, which really wasn’t much of a surprise to Dean, but he was actually a pretty nice, if grumpy, guy. It had been years since Bobby had been in contact with Dean’s family, he hadn’t even heard that Mary had died. Dean caught him up on the broad strokes, avoiding mentioning John as much as possible.

Luck was on Dean’s side because Bobby was in the market for someone to help around the shop and he seemed to like Dean well enough, despite John. Bobby took him on a quick tour of the shop, showing him all the important spaces and telling him what his responsibilities would be. Dean was a little nervous about asking for odd hours and a lot of flexibility since he had school and his brothers to take care of, but Bobby was more than understanding.

“School is important, you hear me, boy?” Bobby said, staring intently at Dean. “And so is family. You always take care of those things first, no matter what. There’ll always be work around here when you have time, but I better not hear ‘bout you cutting class or nothin’.”

Dean nodded, relieved. There was a warm feeling in his chest at hearing Bobby’s words, so much different than what John had said. “Thanks, Bobby,” Dean said, straightening up. He was determined to do his best to keep up with it all, but it was nice to have a new boss that was so accommodating.

“Just work hard,” Bobby said gruffly. “I know you’ve got it in you.”


	2. Chapter 2

The next few weeks flew by as they got settled in the house and Dean got settled at Bobby’s shop. Sam had found a job for himself as well, at the local library. Dean was proud of him even if John didn’t seem to care, too caught up in whatever shit he did when he wasn’t drinking on the couch all day.

Adam continued to be quiet, which worried Dean a little, but both Dean and Sam were doing their best to make him feel like part of the family. They’d gone out for ice cream a couple of times and to buy all their school supplies, and Adam seemed to perk up a little. It would probably take awhile for him to get really comfortable with him, but being away from John seemed to help, which didn’t surprise Dean or Sam in the least.

The morning of the first day of school was an absolutely mess, the three of them rushing around trying to make sure they had everything. John shouted at them about his hangover, but in the excitement it was easy to ignore him. Dean got up early to make them all lunches since they didn’t have much extra cash to be buying school lunches.

“You made food?” Sam asked doubtfully, eyeing the paper bag Dean held out.

“Ham and cheese sandwiches,” Dean said, shaking the bag at him until he took it. “It’s not gonna bite you, just take the damn food.”

“Thanks,” Adam said quietly, taking his own bag without any argument for drifting off toward the door.

Dean shrugged, glad at least one of his brothers wasn’t making a fuss, and headed for the door. He dropped them off at the entrance to the high school, smiling when the Impala got impressed looks from a few students hanging around. Adam and Sam split ways pretty fast, though Dean hoped Sam would take Dean’s words to heart and keep an eye on their younger brother. Dean really didn’t want to have to beat up any high schoolers for hurting his brother.

The drive to his own school was thankfully not too long since their little town was right on the edge of Sioux Falls. Parking was another matter, especially since he’d neglected to tour the campus beforehand and he seemed to have arrived just as everyone else did too. Eventually he found a spot that he hoped wasn’t too far from his classes and headed for his first one.

There were already a few people seated at the desks when he arrived, five minutes before the class was supposed to start. He found a desk off to one side and near the back and sat, glancing warily at his classmates as they all waited for the professor.

It had been awhile since the last time he was in a classroom and he was feeling a little nervous. He’d never been a fantastic student, too caught up in hooking up to pay enough attention in class, and they’d moved around a lot during his high school years, but he’d been alright. Going to college hadn’t seemed like much of a chance until now, but somehow he’d managed to get enough credits to come in as a sophomore. It made him feel a bit better that he wasn’t much older than his classmates.

The professor walked in just as the clock was ticking over the hour, looking like the most stereotypical college professor Dean could imagine, dressed in a tweed suit with a patched brown messenger bag slung over one shoulder. He had to hold back a little snort of laughter at the sight, though by the look the guy seated next to him shot him, he hadn’t held it back enough. Whatever, it was a funny image, so sue him.

“Welcome to the first day of Biology 102,” the professor said, finally getting the entire class’ attention. “I’m Professor Henriksen. We’ll start with the syllabus, then a tour of the lab, and finally assigning your first project. We may even get out early today, but don’t expect that again.”

Dean raised his eyebrows, a little impressed and intimidated by this guy. He wasn’t particularly interested in biology as a class, he preferred the practical application if he was honest, but he needed the organic science credit. It was a bummer the class was four hours long with the included lab, he was pretty sure that was going to get exhausting real quick.

They went through the syllabus more quickly than Dean was afraid they would. He tried to pay attention, but he was a little distracted by the guy beside him who kept looking at him. He was pretty sure he didn’t know the guy, who had some seriously intense blue eyes. It was getting a little weird.

Just when Dean thought about whispering something- what, he didn’t know- Professor Henriksen wrapped up the syllabus introduction and started on the tour of the lab. He pointed out all the important parts of the room they were in, then had them get up and follow him into the connected room. It turned out that was where the actual lab where any practical experiments would take place.

Class had just hit the one hour mark when they returned to their seats so they could get started on the first assignment. It was actually meant to be the main project for the semester, a partner project that Dean was kind of dreading. He’d never been great with group projects, but he was going to make it work no matter what. He just hoped he got a good partner, which was hard to tell since he didn’t know anyone else in the class.

“Now I know many of you would like to pick your partners,” Professor Henriksen was saying from the front of the class, “but that’s not the way this is going to work. I don’t want to give anyone a leg up on the rest by partnering them with a friend or someone they if I can help it.”

He looked around at the class, most of whom were frowning at him, and smiled a little. “I’ve randomly assigned the partners for everyone,” he continued in a voice that said he wouldn’t put up with any nonsense. “When I call your name raise your hand and you can get together with your partner. If I’ve somehow assigned you to a friend, let me know and I’ll switch it up. And I will know if you decide not to.”

He began calling names and Dean listened carefully, looking around like he could pick out which of his classmates would be his partner for the semester. There was no way to tell who it would be until his name was called, but he’d already picked out a couple of people who looked like they’d be good to work with.

“Castiel Novak and Dean Winchester,” Professor Henriksen said, pausing for a moment while he waited for them to find each other. It didn’t take long because it turned out that Dean’s new partner Castiel was the guy sitting right beside him.

“Hi, I’m Cas,” the guy said softly as the professor moved on down the list.

“Nice to meet you,” Dean said, giving his most charming smile. It usually worked when he wanted to make a good impression, and it was hard to tell by the way the guy had been looking at him earlier if he needed it. Better safe than sorry though.

“And that’s it. These are your partners for the semester,” Professor Henrkisen said, preventing them from continuing. “So I’d suggest you get to know them and make friends. Or at least not make enemies. The rest of the class time today is yours, I suggest you use it wisely. I’ll see you again on Wednesday, make sure you read the assigned chapters from the syllabus.”

Henriksen put his blazer back on and grabbed his bag to leave. Several people grabbed their own things and were out the door as soon as the professor had finished talking, but Dean figured it would be good to talk at least a little since they had the time.

“So… I guess we should exchange phone numbers?” Dean asked after a slightly awkward pause. The guy didn’t seem to blink as much as a normal person, his intense gaze focused solely on Dean. It was kind of weird.

“Yes, I believe that would be a good idea,” Cas replied. His voice, when he wasn’t whispering, was much deeper than Dean would have thought.

They switched phones and put in their numbers, Dean surprisingly a lot faster about it even though he’d always considered himself pretty technologically illiterate. Perhaps Cas was just really bad with phones, or maybe it was new and he hadn’t had a lot of practice yet. Whatever it was, it wasn’t Dean’s business, so he pushed it from his mind.

It turned out that another thing Cas wasn’t very good at was smalltalk. Dean tried to get the early pleasantries out of the way so they could discuss things related to the project, but the awkward pauses and stilted conversation ruled. If Cas hadn’t looked so incredibly intense and earnest, Dean might have thought he was doing it on purpose.

Eventually Dean managed to steer the rather pathetic conversation around to best times for them to meet up and how they would divide the work. Thankfully Cas didn’t seem put off by Dean’s schedule and was more than happy to work around his odd hours on campus. It was a big relief to have one less thing to worry about.

Now he just had to get through the rest of his first day of college.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I have no grasp on Balthazar's personality. Sorry lol

The first week of classes went well, and much to Dean’s surprise, things seemed to be going pretty well at home and work as well. Sam and Adam were both adapting well to the high school and John was out of the house more than in, which was a relief. Bobby hadn’t been lying when he said he didn’t mind Dean working odd hours either, he’d even encouraged Dean to work on some homework at the shop on a particularly slow day.

As he got comfortable at school and work, he started exploring Sioux Falls to try to get more comfortable with his new hometown. One of the first places he decided to actually stop at was a little diner just a few blocks away from the university. It was a nondescript little building, all whitewash and navy blue trim. The sign out front was just a slightly flickering neon ‘Diner.’

On the inside, the diner looked like any other hole-in-the-wall eatery, though it was a little odd to have a cajun restaurant so far north. But as soon as Dean saw the little display case of pies by the register, he was sold. What more could a guy want?

The waitress sat him in a booth near the kitchens, and he quickly discovered that he could see inside whenever a waitress went through the swinging doors. It was amusing to watch the cooks rushing around in there while he waited for his food. It got a little less amusing when he noticed someone catching him watching and he ducked to the side, cheeks flushing a little at getting caught.

A few minutes later the guy who’d seen him came out, and Dean would have tried to look away and pretend nothing happened except for the fact that he came right over to the table. He set Dean’s order down on the table with a warm smile, and Dean felt a flush of renewed embarrassment. From up close he could see that the guy was a bit older than him, maybe around thirty, and very attractive in a comfortable, rugged way.

“Hey, there,” the guy said, a Southern lilt obvious in his voice. “First time comin’ here?”

“Uh, yeah, how’d you know?” Dean asked, wondering if he looked as out of place as he suddenly felt. He was trying, he really was, but this whole new places, new town thing was always awkward to start.

“Just thought I’da remembered someone like you,” the guy said with a wink, then stuck his hand out. “I’m Benny Lafitte, by the way. Chef and owner of this diner.”

“Dean Winchester,” Dean responded, automatically taking the offered hand. It was huge and warm around his own, callouses catching and making a shiver go down his back. “We just moved to town a few weeks back. I’m trying to get a feel for the place, you know?”

Benny nodded and gestured at the plate of cooling food on the table. “Well, no better start than our gumbo. You let me know how you like it, yeah?”

“Sure.”

He watched as Benny gave him another nod and headed back for the kitchens, noticing a little giddily that the chef looked just as good from the back as he did from the front. When he was alone again, he dug into the gumbo. He’d never been a big fan of cajun cooking before, but he thought he might have just found a new favorite restaurant.

And the slice of pie Benny brought out to him when he finished definitely helped.

***

Dean had decided to take his hour on Mondays between Intro to Engineering and Human Sexuality to explore the campus a little while he ate his lunch. He figured it would be good to know where things were even if he didn’t really have plans to do much more on campus than go to his classes. He was social by nature, but college social, frat house parties and the like, didn’t seem much like his kind of thing.

He’d staked out a space in the quad, tucked into the shade of one of the pillars around the portico by one of the buildings to keep out of the sun beating down at the end of summer. He was eating the sandwich he’d made that morning, but most of his mind was on thinking about other things he could make for lunches. Sandwiches were getting a bit old already, but he didn’t know how to make much else that could be taken to school for lunch, so he’d have to find some time to research.

“Is that him?”

The voice sounded pretty close, so Dean looked up, a little surprised when the him seemed to actually be _him_. Cas, his partner from their shared biology class, was standing a few feet away with another guy. Cas was muttering something Dean couldn’t quite hear, face red. Dean figured it was the heat, the day was particularly warm for the time of year.

Figuring it was nothing, Dean returned his attention to his lunch. He didn’t have a lot of time to finish and get to his next class, and he didn’t want to be late. He couldn’t afford to make a bad impression on the teachers. Yet.

“Um, hi, Dean,” Cas suddenly said from much closer.

Dean jerked around, almost dropping his sandwich, to see Cas and the other guy standing just a few feet away. Well, Cas was a little closer, just on the edge of Dean’s personal space bubble. From what he’d seen in class so far, Cas didn’t quite understand those kinds of boundaries.

“Hey, Cas,” Dean replied. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to uh, introduce you to my brother,” Cas said, face going red again. He must sunburn pretty easily or something. “This is Balthazar.”

“Nice to finally meet you,” Balthazar said, a smirk on his face as he put out a hand for Dean to shake. His grip was a little too firm and his eyes seemed to be looking inside of Dean for something. It was kind of uncomfortable.

“You too,” Dean returned, frowning a little and wondering what Balthazar meant by ‘finally.’ He and Cas were friendly, but they’d only met a week ago. He hadn’t had a ton of friends in his life, but he was pretty sure it was perfectly normal not to have met their siblings by that time, even if they did happen to go to the same school.

The three of them stood there for a long moment, Cas looking down at the ground and Dean wondering what he was supposed to say in this situation while Balthazar just looked bizarrely delighted by the whole thing. Dean could feel the awkwardness building, and he decided it was time to leave.

“So…” Dean eventually drawled, looking down at his watch before grabbing his bag and stuffing the remains of his sandwich in it. “I have a class to get to. I’ll see you later, Cas. Balthazar.”

Cas and Balthazar made their goodbyes as he turned and headed for the other side of campus. Behind him, he could hear them start to talk to each other before he was even out of earshot. He tried to ignore the words, since he probably shouldn’t be hearing them, but it turned out that Balthazar had kind of a loud voice.

“He’s just as hot as you said,” said Balthazar in what he thought was probably supposed to be an undertone. “I kind of didn’t believe you when you told me.”

Dean could hear Cas sputtering something behind him, but he just walked faster. Whatever Balthazar meant by that comment, it didn’t matter. He had a class to get to.

***

The next time Dean ran into Balthazar was a few weeks after they first met, this time without Cas. He was on his way out to the library after his last class so he could get a little studying in before heading home. It was practically impossible to get anything done there between taking care of his brothers and his dad being out of work for the moment.

“Heyyyy, Dean!” Balthazar called from behind him.

He’d just started up the stairs to the library but turned to see, giving a vague wave at the other man. “Balthazar, right? Cas’ brother?”

“Yep,” Balthazar replied, popping his ‘p’ a little. Dean could tell this guy was probably a lot to handle on a daily basis. “So I had a question for you. An offer, if you will.”

“Okay…” Dean said with a frown, wondering if he should just make a break for it now. He wasn’t sure he liked the way that sounded, and he didn’t even know what Balthazar was talking about. “What is it?”

“How would you like to come to one of our family dinners? Maybe say… Thursday of next week?” Balthazar asked.

Dean froze at that, mind whirring. He’d been getting pretty friendly with Cas in the past few weeks, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t exactly normal to be invited to a family dinner by your friend’s brother who you barely knew. He didn’t have a _whole_ lot of experience with friends, but he thought that was kind of weird.

Still… a chance to get out of the house for dinner he didn’t have to cook himself.

“As long as I can bring my brothers, I can’t really leave them to fend for themselves,” he said, which wasn’t exactly what he’d been meaning to say. It was still true though. He shuddered to think what they’d come up with for dinner on their own.

Balthazar looked at him for a long moment, eyebrow raised in surprise. Dean couldn’t tell if the look was because he’d agreed or because he was trying to get his brothers invited too. “Alright,” he said with a shrug.

“That’s ok?” Dean asked, surprised himself that Balthazar had so easily agreed. It was one thing to invite one person, but he thought three was probably pushing it for a family dinner.

“With as many siblings as I have, what’s an extra few mouths to feed?”

Cas had implied before that he was one of several siblings, though he hadn’t said how many. Dean wondered for a moment if they were one of those religious families that didn’t believe in birth control and had a dozen kids, but he dismissed the thought. He’d see next week apparently, and he really didn’t know Balthazar well enough to ask those kinds of questions. Family couldn’t be a touchy subject as he well knew.

“If you say so. What time should we get there?” Dean would have to see if Bobby would let him off early that day, but he was pretty sure the old man wouldn’t have a problem with him increasing his social activities. He was always going on about how Dean needed more than just taking care of his siblings. Not that he ever said it in so many words, but Dean knew how to read between the lines.

“Six or so is probably good. It all depends on when Mikey and Luci get it together,” Balthazar replied. He eyed Dean. “I’m sure Cassie will be happy to introduce you to the family if we have to wait.”

“Uh, ok?” Dean was pretty sure Balthazar was trying to imply something with the way he said ‘introduce,’ but he wasn’t sure exactly what. And he had no idea who Mikey and Luci were supposed to be. He decided not to let it bother him. He’d already seen that the other man was pretty weird, so it could honestly be anything.

“Anyway,” Balthazar said, looking down at his watch, “I need to go. I have a date with a lovely lady in a few minutes and I wouldn’t want to miss that. See you next Thursday.”

Before Dean could reply, Balthazar was out of sight around the side of the building. He shook his head, wondering at what he’d just gotten himself into, and continued up the stairs. An hour or so of studying in the library still awaited him.


	4. Chapter 4

The next time Dean saw Cas, he didn’t mention the dinner invitation from Balthazar. It was a little surprising, since Dean assumed Balthazar had done it on Cas’ behalf, but perhaps Cas had just forgotten about it already. Dean knew he would definitely forget about it without the calendar on his phone. That was the only way he was keeping track of anything these days.

Between that and taking care of his brothers, sometimes he thought he was turning into a suburban soccer mom.

The days before the dinner were busy. His classes were picking up as they got closer to midterms and it was beginning to feel like he didn’t have time for anything outside of homework and work. Thankfully Bobby continued to be more than accommodating of Dean’s other responsibilities, but it didn’t feel right to Dean for him to shirk work. Besides the fact that they needed the money, it had been ingrained into him since he was a kid to keep going even when it seemed like too much. It wasn’t a habit he’d been able to break so far.

With all of that, it was kind of a surprise to wake up Thursday morning and see the reminder on his phone. As he pulled out the sack lunches he’d packed the night before and gave them to Sam and Adam, he made sure to remind them as well. With their afterschool activities and the drive, he’d have to pick them up and head straight over to Cas’ house.

Even after reminding them that morning, he pulled up to the front of the school to see a suspicious lack of his brothers. They were supposed to meet him at 5:30 and they both should have been out of the activities by five or so at the latest, so they should have been there. He looked down at the dash to see it was 5:33. Typical.

He put the car into park, glaring at the front doors, and pulled out his phone. Adam was still more likely than not to ignore a text or phone call from him, but Sam would usually answer. Hopefully he wasn’t locked up in a closet with a girl or something else equally distracting. Dean knew how that went.

“Where the hell are you two?” Dean said as soon as Sam picked up. He could practically hear the eyeroll on the other end, but ignored it. That was a response he was very used to.

“Just… dealing with a little meltdown,” Sam said. There were muffled noises in the background, but Dean couldn’t make out what they were. “We’ll be out in just a minute, I promise.”

Dean grumbled, but hung up and sat back to watch the front door and wait. A few minutes later, he saw Sam coming out, Adam a few steps behind him. As they approached, Dean noticed that there was something a little off about Adam’s face. He quickly realized that his youngest brother had a black eye.

“What the hell happened?” he asked as soon as the doors opened, wondering whether he should be angry or worried. Was this how parents felt about their children? If so, he wasn’t sure he liked it.

“I fell,” Adam said sullenly, drawing a snort from both Dean and Sam.

“I wasn’t born yesterday, kid,” Dean replied. “I know what the results of a fight look like. What I don’t know is if you started it or ended it.”

Adam opened his mouth to answer, but Sam beat him too it. “They started it, not him,” Sam said, glancing back at Adam in the backseat. His arms were crossed and he was studiously looking out the window. “But we ended it. Hopefully they won’t try that again.”

“Good.” Dean was a little miffed he hadn’t been there to help, it was his job to take care of his younger siblings, but he was glad they could take care of themselves. Next time though…

He looked down at the dash and swore, putting the car into drive and getting out of the school parking lot as fast as he dared. They were definitely going to be late, which was really not what he wanted since Balthazar had been nice enough to let Sam and Adam come with him. Hopefully there weren’t any cops lying in wait between here and there.

***

“Dean?” Cas asked when he opened the front door, only about five minutes after six thanks to the Impala's impressive speed on back roads. He blinked confusedly between the three of them. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh, dinner? Balthazar invited me, said I could bring my brothers.” Dean suddenly had the sinking feeling that the invitation hadn’t originally come from Cas and Cas hadn’t just forgotten to mention it in the last week. Shit.

Before Cas could reply, probably to politely tell them to leave, Balthazar appeared behind his shoulder, a huge grin on his face. “Dean, you made it!” he said, and bumped his brother’s shoulder. “I invited Dean over for dinner tonight, thought it would be nice.”

“I really don’t need you to-” Cas began to say, then cut himself off with a glance in Dean’s direction. “Fine. Please come in, Dean. These are your brothers?”

Dean made the introductions as they walked inside, a little distracted by the size of the house. It was obvious from the outside that it was huge, much larger than any house Dean had seen before outside of celebrity profiles in magazines or something. But on the inside, a little worn but still very nice, it was even more obvious. He wondered how many bedrooms there were and why Cas’ family had such a large house. Dean knew he had several siblings, but this just seemed excessive.

As they made their way further inside, Cas and Balthazar introduced them to the other siblings they happened to pass. None of them looked very much alike, which was odd for siblings. Even Adam looked similar to him and Sam, and they were only half siblings.

“Friends of your’s, brother?”

The five of them turned to see someone who was assumably another sibling. He was short, but looked to be a few years older than Dean. He had a huge smile on his face as he looked between them, seemingly delighted to see some people who weren’t related to him.

“Yes, this is Dean and his brothers Sam and Adam,” Cas replied, a hint of fond exasperation in his voice. Dean wondered why since this new brother had barely said anything. “And this is my brother, Gabriel. You should probably stay away from him.”

“Hey!” Gabriel exclaimed, though he didn’t look at all offended. “I resemble that remark.”

Dean just shook his head, amazed that Cas could have a brother who was even weirder than Balthazar, but Sam let out a snort of laughter. It made Gabriel smile even wider, eyeing him intently. Dean decided it was time to get on with things.

“So… dinner?” he asked, turning back to Cas.

“Of course. Michael and Lucifer should be done by now,” Cas said, and gestured further into the house. “We can go to the dining room while we wait.”

The dining room turned out to be another huge room with an equally huge table, probably comfortably seating around twenty. It seemed just as excessive as the rest of the house, but it was already almost half filled before the six of them arrived. The people at the table were mostly elementary school aged, which surprised him. He’d figured that even with Cas having several siblings, they’d all be at least in junior high by now, if not high school.

“It’s Thursday, so pretty much everybody but the little ones are out with friends or doing school activities,” Gabriel said, obviously seeing the confusion on Dean’s face. He patted a couple of the kids on the head as they passed, a softer smile on his face. “You can never really tell how many will be around for dinner, but this is about average.”

“How many siblings do you _have_?” Sam asked, eyes wide as he looked around the room.

Gabriel shrugged. “You’d have to ask Raphael,” he said. “He keeps the book. I always lose track.”

There didn’t really seem to be anything any of them could say to that bizarre non answer, so they all just took seats at the table. Dean felt awkward and out of place surrounded by so much of Cas’ family, but he figured Sam and Adam probably felt it even more acutely since they didn’t even know anyone here.

It only took a few minutes for two of Cas’ older siblings, probably about Gabriel’s age, to come in from the kitchen, dishes in hand. They ordered a couple of the older kids to go grab more dishes, which they did, and soon the table wa covered in food. Dean wasn’t sure if he was surprised or not that neither Michael or Lucifer really seemed to take notice of three strangers at the table.

The actual dinner was a bit of a crazy mess in Dean’s opinion. Everyone at the table just fell on the food, passing it back and forth seemingly at random. It was loud, which wasn’t really surprising how many people were in the room, but it was still a little overwhelming. He found it distracting to have so many conversations going on at the same time around him when he was used to having just his brothers and father at mealtimes.

Still, the food was very good, and there was plenty of it for everyone. He’d been a little worried there wouldn’t be enough with the three of them added, but apparently Gabriel was right about them not knowing how many people would be there to eat. They’d just prepared for a _lot_.

As people finished eating, they drifted off into the rest of the house, assumably back to whatever they’d been doing before dinner. Sam and Adam finished much sooner than Dean did and wandered off themselves. Dean just had to hope they wouldn’t get into any trouble.

“So… this is your family, huh?” Dean asked Cas when it was just them and a couple other hangers on at the other end of the table.

“Yes.”

Dean tried not to roll his eyes at the lack of forthcoming information to his question, but he knew by now that was just Cas. “How do you keep up with so many siblings?” he asked instead.

“It can be difficult,” Cas admitted. “The older ones of us divide the responsibilities and we have family meetings. We make it work.”

“Huh.” Dean was a little jealous of how close their family seemed despite how large it was, though he would never say that aloud. If they did make it work like he said, they were doing better than the Winchesters. And speaking of his family…

“Any idea of where my brothers got to?”

“I believe Gabriel took Sam on a tour, but I do not know about Adam,” Cas said, shrugging.

Dean sighed. “I guess I should go find them.”

They easily found Adam, who was sitting in the main living area watching tv. He didn’t look likely to up and leave, so Dean left him there while he continued to look for Sam. They checked all the common rooms on the first floor and found neither Sam nor Gabriel, and none of Cas’ siblings seemed to have seen either of them since dinner.

Cas assured him that Gabriel wouldn’t have taken Sam to the upper floor since that was mostly bedrooms, so Dean was at a bit of a loss. As they returned to the living room to double check that no one had seen them, he decided it was time to call Sam again. That kid had quite the record of disappearing from where he was supposed to be today.

The first ring went through and Dean frowned in confusion. There seemed to be an echo, faint but there. He noticed almost immediately that Cas was looking around in equal confusion, so maybe it wasn’t actually an echo.

“You hear that?” he asked, and Cas nodded, looking around the room. “Any idea where it’s coming from?”

It only took a few moments to pinpoint the sound to a closet on one side of the room. That was definitely not a place Sam’s phone should be ringing from, and Dean was beginning to get the feeling that he’d missed something. At his nod, Cas opened the door.

“What the hell?”

“Dean?” Sam asked, startled as he broke away from his lip lock with Gabriel. “What’s, uh, what’s going on?”

Dean crossed his arms over his chest, glaring between the two of them. “My brother is in a closet making out with my friend’s older brother apparently,” he said. “Seriously, Sam?”

Sam had the decency to look chastised, though Gabriel just looked smug. Neither of them, though, made a move to separate, hands still on shoulders and waists. At least Dean was grateful that all clothing seemed to be on and no hands were anywhere too mind scarring.

“I figured you wouldn’t miss me for a while, Gabe said he’d show me around,” Sam said, his voice way too innocent to actually _be_ innocent. “It’s a really nice house, you know.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel said, smile just this side of lecherous, “just wanted to give him the whole grand tour.”

Dean heaved a heavy, put upon sigh. “Whatever,” he grumped. “Are you ready to go? We need to get back before dad gets pissed.”

Sam looked ready to argue until he caught sight of Adam, who was across the room pretending he wasn’t listening to them. They both knew that being out too late would make John angry which would make him fight with Sam which would scare Adam, and neither of them wanted that. There was already bound to be words about Adam’s blackeye.

“Alright,” Sam said instead. He planted a kiss on Gabriel’s cheek, then stepped out of the closet to stand beside Dean. “Let’s go then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, Sam and Gabe came out of the closet :D

**Author's Note:**

> Concrit welcome. If you like my fic, feel free to come hit me up [on tumblr](http://voldiebuns.tumblr.com/)!


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